When Twitter attacks: How trolls use social media to silence

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone repeated what’s become a stock line for him: “Twitter should be considered a triumph of humanity not a triumph of technology.”

The San Francisco microblogging service has almost certainly, on balance, been a positive force for humankind — a handheld printing press, megaphone, news wire and public bulletin board for anyone who can afford a cellphone.

But for every act of citizen journalism on Twitter helping to foment revolution in repressive regimes or assist people in a tragedy, there are dark and depressing examples of how human nature plays out in 140 characters.

Such was the case this weekend in the Twitter feed of Clara Jeffery, co-editor of Mother Jones.

On Saturday, Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, described as the the most lethal sniper in American military history, was shot and killed at a Texas gun range, reportedly by a former Marine suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

Jeffery tweeted: “So much for good/talented guy with a gun being able to stop mentally ill guy with a gun.”

It was an apparent rebuttal to NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre’s now famous quote in the wake of the Newtown tragedy: “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

But the reaction to Jeffery’s tweet was swift and vicious, soon turning misogynistic and threatening, particularly after the responders realized she had a child. You can read much of the unedited responses here (or if you dig down here).

But these are a few of the nastiest lowlights:

“Erase those disrespectful tweets now you dirtbag motherf—– An American patriot lost his life tonight. You will regret this,” wrote @HeidiL_RN.

To which one wonders, RN as in nurse????

Apparently unaware of what Mother Jones actually does, @HeidiL_RN later called for campaign to have Jeffery fired from the progressive San Francisco magazine.

One Rev. Norman Price, going by @StopAtheists, wrote: “How do you even have a child you big ugly dy–? F—- you, f—— slut. Hell awaits!”

He followed that up with: “Keep praying for God to intervene in Clara’s life and cause tragedy.”

To which one wonders, Rev. as in reverend????

Bruce Fleeger, tweeting as @Fweegy, said: “I hope everything bad that can happen to your family happens x3 and you get to watch it all you disgusting POS.”

There was an underlying point to many of the tweets: Don’t politicize the tragic death of a military hero.

But see how easy that was to say that without calling someone a slut, speculating on her sexuality, questioning her abilities as a parent, praying for tragedy to befall her family or cryptically saying she’s “going to regret this?”

This isn’t the language you use when trying to persuade someone to come around to your point of view; this is the language you use when the goal is to bully someone into silence.

It’s all the more disturbing because this behavior has become the template for attacks on women who “dare” speak their minds online.

“Until women can participate without experiencing what @ClaraJeffery experienced, let’s stop pretending there’s a ‘debate’ about gun control,” tweeted Jamil Smith, a contributor to the New Republic.

But this isn’t just about sexism. The episode also reflects the general state of political debate in this country, less a constructive exchange of ideas, more a partisan shouting match amplified by social media.

But I’ll tell you, watching the argument scroll by tweet by tweet, one side was a whole lot less constructive than the other — and it was the one that leaped to sexist slurs and threats.

In the longer run, they’re undermining their own cause. Gun advocates who can’t hold their fire on Twitter make reasonable people wonder about their ability to do so with the real deal.

As a pure PR strategy, praying for violence is not the way to assure people you can be trusted with assault weapons and high capacity clips.

Or as Paige Velthouse tweeted to Jeffery: ”Geez, these people tweeting you remind me why we need better and stronger gun laws.”

For any responsible gun owners who think these people paint you all in a negative light, you’re absolutely right — so you should be first ones shouting them down.

The only good news in all this is that many, many people on Twitter also rose to Jeffery’s defense, offering her encouragement, virtual hugs and pictures of adorable babies and dogs.